The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" explores themes of sin, guilt, and the nature of human relationships through the character of Reverend Mr. Hooper. Set in a Puritan community, the story begins with Mr. Hooper shocking his congregation by wearing a mysterious black veil that obscures his face. This veil symbolizes the hidden sins that everyone carries, leading to a profound examination of isolation and judgment. As Mr. Hooper grapples with his own secrets, the townspeople react with fear and curiosity, ultimately reflecting on their own hidden transgressions. This classic tale is essential for students of American literature and those interested in moral and psychological themes in fiction.

Key Points

  • Explores the themes of sin and isolation through Reverend Mr. Hooper's black veil.
  • Analyzes the reactions of a Puritan community to Mr. Hooper's mysterious veil.
  • Examines the symbolism of the veil as a representation of hidden sins.
  • Highlights the psychological conflict between public persona and private guilt.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne:
The Minister’s Black Veil (1836)
A Parable
THE SEXTON
stood
in the porch of Milford meeting-house,
pulling busily at the bell-rope. The old people of the village came
stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily
beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious digni-
ty of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the
pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them
prettier than on week days. When the throng had mostly streamed
into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the
Reverend Mr. Hooper’s door. The first glimpse of the clergyman’s
figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons.
“But
what
has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?” cried the
sexton in astonishment.
All
within
hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the sem-
blance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly his meditative way towards the
meeting-house. With one accord they started, expressing more won-
der than if some strange minister were coming to dust the cushions of
Mr. Hooper’s pulpit.
“Are
you
sure it is our parson?” inquired Goodman Gray of the
sexton.
“Of
a
certainty it is good Mr. Hooper,” replied the sexton. “He
was to have exchanged pulpits with Parson Shute, of Westbury; but
Parson Shute sent to excuse himself yesterday, being to preach a fu-
neral sermon.”
The
cause
of so much amazement may appear sufficiently slight.
Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a ba-
chelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had
starched his band, and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday’s
garb. There was but one thing remarkable in his appearance. Swathed
THE MINISTER
’
S BLACK VEIL
2
about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be
shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On a nearer
view it seemed to consist of two folds of crape, which entirely con-
cealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not
intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living
and inanimate things. With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr.
Hooper walked onward, at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat,
and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet
nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the
meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were they that his greeting
hardly met with a return.
“I
can’t
really feel as if good Mr. Hooper’s face was behind that
piece of crape,” said the sexton.
“I
don’t
like it,” muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the
meeting-house. “He has changed himself into something awful, only
by hiding his face.”
“Our
parson
has gone mad!” cried Goodman Gray, following him
across the threshold.
A
rumor
of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr.
Hooper into the meeting-house, and set all the congregation astir.
Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many
stood upright, and turned directly about; while several little boys
clambered upon the seats, and came down again with a terrible racket.
There was a general bustle, a rustling of the women’s gowns and shuf-
fling of the men’s feet, greatly at variance with that hushed repose
which should attend the entrance of the minister. But Mr. Hooper
appeared not to notice the perturbation of his people. He entered with
an almost noiseless step, bent his head mildly to the pews on each side,
and bowed as he passed his oldest parishioner, a white-haired great-
grandsire, who occupied an arm-chair in the centre of the aisle. It was
strange to observe how slowly this venerable man became conscious of
something singular in the appearance of his pastor. He seemed not
fully to partake of the prevailing wonder, till Mr. Hooper had as-
cended the stairs, and showed himself in the pulpit, face to face with
his congregation, except for the black veil. That mysterious emblem
was never once withdrawn. It shook with his measured breath, as he
gave out the psalm; it threw its obscurity between him and the holy
3
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
page, as he read the Scriptures; and while he prayed, the veil lay heavi-
ly on his uplifted countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread
Being whom he was addressing?
Such
was
the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than
one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house.
Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight
to the minister, as his black veil to them.
Mr.
Hooper
had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an
energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persua-
sive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of
the Word. The sermon which he now delivered was marked by the
same characteristics of style and manner as the general series of his
pulpit oratory. But there was something, either in the sentiment of the
discourse itself, or in the imagination of the auditors, which made it
greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their
pastor’s lips. It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the
gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament. The subject had refer-
ence to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our
nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own conscious-
ness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them. A subtle
power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation,
the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the
preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered
their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought. Many spread their clasped
hands on their bosoms. There was nothing terrible in what Mr. Hoo-
per said, at least, no violence; and yet, with every tremor of his melan-
choly voice, the hearers quaked. An unsought pathos came hand in
hand with awe. So sensible were the audience of some unwonted
attribute in their minister, that they longed for a breath of wind to
blow aside the veil, almost believing that a stranger’s visage would be
discovered, though the form, gesture, and voice were those of Mr.
Hooper.
At
the
close of the services, the people hurried out with indecorous
confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and con-
scious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil.
Some gathered in little circles, huddled closely together, with their
mouths all whispering in the centre; some went homeward alone,
THE MINISTER
’
S BLACK VEIL
4
wrapt in silent meditation; some talked loudly, and profaned the Sab-
bath day with ostentatious laughter. A few shook their sagacious heads,
intimating that they could penetrate the mystery; while one or two
affirmed that there was no mystery at all, but only that Mr. Hooper’s
eyes were so weakened by the midnight lamp, as to require a shade.
After a brief interval, forth came good Mr. Hooper also, in the rear of
his flock. Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he paid
due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle aged with kind
dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted the young with min-
gled authority and love, and laid his hands on the little children’s heads
to bless them. Such was always his custom on the Sabbath day. Strange
and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy. None, as on former
occasions, aspired to the honor of walking by their pastor’s side. Old
Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neg-
lected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman
had been wont to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settle-
ment. He returned, therefore, to the parsonage, and, at the moment of
closing the door, was observed to look back upon the people, all of
whom had their eyes fixed upon the minister. A sad smile gleamed
faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth,
glimmering as he disappeared.
“How
strange,”
said a lady, “that a simple black veil, such as any
woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible
thing on Mr. Hooper’s face!”
“Something
must
surely be amiss with Mr. Hooper’s intellects,”
observed her husband, the physician of the village. “But the strangest
part of the affair is the effect of this vagary, even on a sober-minded
man like myself. The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face,
throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike
from head to foot. Do you not feel it so?”
“Truly
do
I,” replied the lady; “and I would not be alone with him
for the world. I wonder he is not afraid to be alone with himself!”
“Men
sometimes
are so,” said her husband.
The
afternoon
service was attended with similar circumstances. At
its conclusion, the bell tolled for the funeral of a young lady. The rela-
tives and friends were assembled in the house, and the more distant
5
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
acquaintances stood about the door, speaking of the good qualities of
the deceased, when their talk was interrupted by the appearance of Mr.
Hooper, still covered with his black veil. It was now an appropriate
emblem. The clergyman stepped into the room where the corpse was
laid, and bent over the coffin, to take a last farewell of his deceased
parishioner. As he stooped, the veil hung straight down from his fore-
head, so that, if her eyelids had not been closed forever, the dead mai-
den might have seen his face. Could Mr. Hooper be fearful of her
glance, that he so hastily caught back the black veil? A person who
watched the interview between the dead and living, scrupled not to
affirm, that, at the instant when the clergyman’s features were dis-
closed, the corpse had slightly shuddered, rustling the shroud and
muslin cap, though the countenance retained the composure of death.
A superstitious old woman was the only witness of this prodigy. From
the coffin Mr. Hooper passed into the chamber of the mourners, and
thence to the head of the staircase, to make the funeral prayer. It was a
tender and heart-dissolving prayer, full of sorrow, yet so imbued with
celestial hopes, that the music of a heavenly harp, swept by the fingers
of the dead, seemed faintly to be heard among the saddest accents of
the minister. The people trembled, though they but darkly understood
him when he prayed that they, and himself, and all of mortal race,
might be ready, as he trusted this young maiden had been, for the
dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from their faces. The bearers
went heavily forth, and the mourners followed, saddening all the
street, with the dead before them, and Mr. Hooper in his black veil
behind.
“Why
do
you look back?” said one in the procession to his partner.
“I
had
a fancy,” replied she, “that the minister and the maiden’s
spirit were walking hand in hand.”
“And
so
had I, at the same moment,” said the other.
That
night,
the handsomest couple in Milford village were to be
joined in wedlock. Though reckoned a melancholy man, Mr. Hooper
had a placid cheerfulness for such occasions, which often excited a
sympathetic smile where livelier merriment would have been thrown
away. There was no quality of his disposition which made him more
beloved than this. The company at the wedding awaited his arrival
with impatience, trusting that the strange awe, which had gathered
THE MINISTER
’
S BLACK VEIL
6
over him throughout the day, would now be dispelled. But such was
not the result. When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes
rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper
gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil to the wed-
ding. Such was its immediate effect on the guests that a cloud seemed
to have rolled duskily from beneath the black crape, and dimmed the
light of the candles. The bridal pair stood up before the minister. But
the bride’s cold fingers quivered in the tremulous hand of the bride-
groom, and her deathlike paleness caused a whisper that the maiden
who had been buried a few hours before was come from her grave to
be married. If ever another wedding were so dismal, it was that famous
one where they tolled the wedding knell. After performing the cere-
mony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips, wishing happiness
to the new-married couple in a strain of mild pleasantry that ought to
have brightened the features of the guests, like a cheerful gleam from
the hearth. At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the look-
ing-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with
which it overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew
white, he spilt the untasted wine upon the carpet, and rushed forth
into the darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil.
The
next
day, the whole village of Milford talked of little else than
Parson Hooper’s black veil. That, and the mystery concealed behind
it, supplied a topic for discussion between acquaintances meeting in
the street, and good women gossiping at their open windows. It was
the first item of news that the tavern-keeper told to his guests. The
children babbled of it on their way to school. One imitative little imp
covered his face with an old black handkerchief, thereby so affrighting
his playmates that the panic seized himself, and he well-nigh lost his
wits by his own waggery.
It
was
remarkable that of all the busybodies and impertinent
people in the parish, not one ventured to put the plain question to Mr.
Hooper, wherefore he did this thing. Hitherto, whenever there ap-
peared the slightest call for such interference, he had never lacked
advisers, nor shown himself adverse to be guided by their judgment. If
he erred at all, it was by so painful a degree of self-distrust, that even
the mildest censure would lead him to consider an indifferent action as
a crime. Yet, though so well acquainted with this amiable weakness, no
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FAQs of The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

What does the black veil symbolize in Hawthorne's story?
In "The Minister's Black Veil," the black veil symbolizes the hidden sins and guilt that individuals carry. Reverend Mr. Hooper wears the veil to represent the idea that everyone has secrets that they conceal from others. This act creates a barrier between him and his congregation, illustrating how personal guilt can lead to isolation. The veil's presence prompts the townspeople to reflect on their own hidden transgressions, making them uncomfortable and fearful. Ultimately, the veil serves as a powerful metaphor for the universal human condition of bearing unacknowledged sins.
How do the townspeople react to Mr. Hooper's black veil?
The townspeople react with a mix of fear, curiosity, and judgment when Reverend Mr. Hooper first appears with the black veil. Their astonishment quickly turns to discomfort, as they speculate about the reasons behind his choice to wear it. Some believe he has lost his sanity, while others whisper about the possibility of secret sin. This reaction highlights the theme of societal judgment and the tendency to project one's fears onto others. As the story progresses, the veil becomes a source of both fascination and dread, ultimately isolating Mr. Hooper from his community.
What is the main conflict in 'The Minister's Black Veil'?
The main conflict in 'The Minister's Black Veil' revolves around Reverend Mr. Hooper's struggle with his own hidden sins and the societal implications of his choice to wear the veil. This internal conflict manifests as he grapples with the isolation that the veil brings, both from his congregation and from his fiancée, Elizabeth. The veil serves as a physical representation of his emotional turmoil and the universal nature of guilt. As he confronts the reactions of those around him, the story delves into the broader themes of judgment and the human condition.
What themes are explored in 'The Minister's Black Veil'?
Hawthorne's 'The Minister's Black Veil' explores several profound themes, including sin, guilt, and the nature of human relationships. The story examines how hidden sins can create barriers between individuals, leading to isolation and misunderstanding. The black veil itself symbolizes the secrets that people carry, prompting reflections on personal and societal morality. Additionally, the narrative addresses the tension between public persona and private guilt, illustrating how societal expectations can exacerbate personal struggles. Through these themes, Hawthorne invites readers to consider the complexities of human nature.

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